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West Indies had the better of the opening day of their 500th Test, reaching 246 for 3 at stumps

The Report by Mohammad Isam13-Sep-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsLeon Johnson made a solid 66 on debut, and put on 143 with Kraigg Brathwaite•WICBGiven that only a small crowd came to the Beausejour Stadium to watch West Indies’ 500th Test match, the swaying fortunes of West Indies and Bangladesh was what illuminated the occasion. The first day of the second Test could have gone either way. In the end, it was the home side who emerged happier, but not to the extent they may have imagined at the end of a wicketless first session.West Indies were 246 for three at stumps, a score that reflected the fact that they did not take full advantage of a 143-run opening partnership between Kraigg Brathwaite and the debutant Leon Johnson. It also flattered them, since they lost their way in the final session and Bangladesh bowled well but dropped some important catches.Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo, unbeaten on 34 and 44 respectively, steered West Indies through a tough period. They have so far added 61 for the fourth wicket, with Bravo starting off with a string of fours and sixes before shutting up shop. But the partnership could have ended in the 72nd over when Al-Amin, who was getting the ball to straighten from around the wicket, found Chanderpaul’s edge only for Nasir Hossain to drop it, diving to his right from second slip. He could have left it for first slip, where Anamul Haque would only have had to lean forward to make the catch.The Bangladesh pace bowlers ended the day with their heads slightly higher after a disappointing first session. After Mushfiqur Rahim chose to field first on a pacy and bouncy pitch with lateral movement, they hardly attacked the stumps in the first session.Johnson and Brathwaite gave West Indies the ideal start, going through the first session wicketless. Having scored at just over two runs an over before lunch, they picked up the pace soon after, adding 82 before Brathwaite, having scored his sixth fifty, played an out-of-character shot, chasing a wide ball from Shafiul Islam and spooning a catch to point.Johnson’s 66 showed promise, not just while threading the ball through the covers or hitting straight. He took his time getting off the mark, off his 17th ball, but he adjusted manfully even though he is not a regular opener. He reached his fifty off 135 balls, but couldn’t take advantage of a half-chance, when he edged the ball through the slips on 61, and fell after adding just five more. Johnson’s 162-ball innings contained five fours and a six.His dismissal, leg-before to Taijul Islam, came 25 balls after Brathwaite’s dismissal. He could have had another reprieve if he had asked for the review within 15 seconds but he was late by three seconds after consulting Kirk Edwards, the non-striker. Hawkeye suggested that the ball from Taijul Islam would have missed the leg stump.Edwards had yet another unproductive outing, getting out for 16 to a good low catch, diving to his left, by Shamsur Rahman at cover off Mahmudullah. He had been given a life on five when Taijul Islam dropped a simple chance off his bat at backward point.Shafiul was lucky to get the wicket of Brathwaite but saw two chances, the ones given by Johnson and Edwards, going down off his bowling. This being his first Test in more than three years, it would be a satisfying first day though he too, like Robiul Islam and Al-Amin Hossain, was trying to overdo the swing and seam movement in the first session.Robiul was having a poor day as he was wayward and undisciplined, but he bowled well after tea, getting the old ball to jag both ways to the left-handers. He gave Chanderpaul some food for thought with the second new ball too, as shots were attempted and edges missed by whiskers.Al-Amin also improved as the day progressed, ensuring he kept the ball up and used the movement in the air without forcing things to happen. He beat Chanderpaul in the 72nd over and a ball later, had him edging. He was livid at the slip cordon when Nasir dropped the catch.West Indies added 93 runs in the last session without losing a wicket, ending the day on a bit of a high. Bangladesh, on the other hand, must have been peeved at not taking the chances. They will have a ball that is just five overs old and a pace attack that has learned what not to do on this pitch in the morning session.

Kevin Pietersen is immune from potential ECB disciplinary action over his autobiography after Surrey cancelled his registration.

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2014Kevin Pietersen is immune from potential ECB disciplinary action over his autobiography after Surrey cancelled his registration but the fallout could yet have a detrimental effect on his chances of continuing his cricket career in England is due to be launched on October 9 and Pietersen could have faced a charge of bringing the game in disrepute for details of his sacking by the ECB in March and events on the disastrous Ashes tour last winter. Now, as a free agent, the ECB will be unable to punish Pietersen.Pietersen also does not have to seek the ECB’s permission to play in the Big Bash in Australia or the IPL – consent that may have been refused following revelations in Pietersen’s book. He has signed a two-year deal to play for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash and is also likely to return for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL.The confidentiality clause that followed the cancellation of Pietersen’s central contract expired on October 1 and his book is set to shed light on the acrimonious end to his time in the England team and the “text-gate” incident during England’s series with South Africa in 2012 which threatened an end to his international career.Pietersen’s contract with Surrey ended on August 30 and despite voicing his intentions to play county cricket during September, Surrey decided not to consider him for the final weeks of the season.He is expected to enter discussions with Surrey over a return in 2015 but any return to county cricket could potentially leave Pietersen open to retrospective disciplinary action by the ECB as well as bring tension between Surrey and the governing body. Although it might be premature to pronounce that his county career is over, its continuation might be regarded as problematic at best.Pietersen’s 2014 summer consisted entirely as a freelance T20 cricketer, firstly for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL where he made only one half-century in 11 innings. He fared even worse for Surrey in the NatWest Blast, averaging just 22.50 over 12 innings. He also played twice for St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League, scoring 23 and 7, having arrived at the tournament when his team were already knocked out.Surrey’s current chief executive, Richard Gould, is the favourite to fill the equivalent role at the ECB, after David Collier stood down at the end of the season. Gould will be anxious to delay any decision on Kevin Pietersen until the result of the ECB recruitment process is known.

Half-centuries from Charles Amini and Vani Morea revived a flagging Papua New Guinea innings to ensure they won their debut ODI in Townsville

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Nov-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsPapua New Guinea made a bright entrance to ODI cricket•ICCHalf-centuries from Charles Amini and Vani Morea revived a flagging Papua New Guinea innings to ensure they won their debut ODI in Townsville. They had been 76 for 5 in the 17th over against Hong Kong, who could not push their advantage any further and the target of 203 was achieved with 10 overs to spare.Amini was the aggressor and displayed a range of strokes, including a left-handed helicopter shot that skimmed to the long-on boundary and a controlled straight drive to reach his fifty off only 53 balls. Morea was happy to be circumspect at the other end, but he did hit belt a six off Nadeem Ahmed in the 37th over. Their partnership accounted for 91 runs and left a patchy start behind them. Papua New Guinea’s top order had been brisk, they had made 67 runs by the 13th over but had lost three wickets in the process. The wobble was furthered with seamer Irfan Ahmed picking up two wickets in two overs.Jamie Atkinson, the Hong Kong captain, might have envisioned a victory, especially after he had held the batting together with an 79-ball 59. His team had slumped around him to be 98 for 6 before No. 8 Aizaz Khan struck 42 off 62 balls and No. 9 Haseeb Amjad contributed 35 off 38 to help eat up as much of their full quota as possible. Amini, though, would not let them have that consolation as his 2 for 29 helped finish the tail off.”I’m over the moon, I’m speechless,” Amini said. “After Vani got out I told myself I have to pass the score. I’m proud of the achievement so far, that’s one out of two. We want to make it two out of two tomorrow.”PNG coach and former New Zealand offspinner Dipak Patel was delighted with his team’s effort. “I look back at some of the great victories I’ve been a part of and it brings back a lot of memories,” Patel said. “This is totally different as a coach as you have different emotions but I’m just so pleased for the guys. They’ve worked particularly hard over the last two or three months and we’ve changed a lot. At times they’ve sort of looked at me sideways asking me where I was coming from, but today they summed it up and it was a great team effort.”

A round-up of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Silver League quarter-final matches on November 26, 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Nov-2014Azeem Ghumman’s final-innings century was in vain as Hyderabad Hawks were dismissed 19 runs short of victory in the quarter-final against Habib Bank Limited at Mirpur Cricket Stadium. Chasing 286, Hyderabad crumbled to 79 for 6 in 24 overs. They were then steadied by a 98-run stand between Lal Kumar and Ghumman, but three more wickets went down for 30 runs and Hyderabad were sinking at 207 for 9. Ghumman, however, found support in last man Babar Khan, who made 28, and the pair took Hyderabad to 267 before Ghumman fell for 121 off 156 balls. Umar Gul and Abdur Rehman took three wickets apiece for HBL.HBL’s victory came despite a disastrous first innings after they were sent in to bat. They were shot out for 128 in 43.1 overs with Mir Ali taking 5 for 39 for Hyderabad. Rameez Aziz was HBL’s top scorer with 49.Hyderabad went on to claim a first-innings lead of 138, with ten out of their 11 batsmen getting starts. No one went on to make a half-century, though, and their top-scorer was No. 11 Naeem-ur-Rehman, who made 43 off 39 balls. Abdur Rehman and Ashiq Ali took four wickets each for HBL.HBL’s victory was set up by a strong second-innings performance led by Bilal Shafayat’s unbeaten 201 off 257 balls, which included 30 fours. Rameez contributed 80 as HBL declared on 423 for 5, setting Hyderabad a target of 286. It didn’t look like they would come close, but they fell just short in the end.Strong bowling performances from Atif Maqbool and Tabish Khan set up Sui Southern Gas Corporation’s 235-run victory against Pakistan Television at National Ground in Islamabad.SSGC were dismissed for 266 after choosing to bat, riding on half-centuries from Usman Tariq, Mohammad Waqas and Tariq Haroon. Waqar Ahmed took 5 for 53 for PTV. Maqbool then ranthrough the PTV batting lineup, taking 6 for 82 to dismiss them for 222 in 67.5 overs. Hasan Raza made 59, but six other batsmen failed to convert their starts.SSGC’s batting built on the 44-run lead and piled up 373 in the second innings. Three of the top four batsmen made half-centuries and there were useful contributions from the lower order too. Awais Zia top scored with 79. PTV used as many as nine bowlers; Nawaz Ahmed took 3 for 60. Chasing 418, PTV were shot out for 182. Rehan Afridi made 70, but no one else contributed substantially as Tabish claimed 5 for 55 to wreck the chase.

Younis Khan has been recalled to the Pakistan one-day side for the first two matches against New Zealand

Umar Farooq30-Nov-20141:00

Younis returns to Pakistan ODI side

Pakistan squads

For first two ODIs
Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Bilawal Bhatti, Haris Sohail, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Younis Khan, Zulfiqar Babar
Out: Sohaib Maqsood, Junaid Khan, Umar Amin, Sami Aslam, Fawad Alam, Raza Hasan, Anwar Ali
In: Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Umar Gul, Haris Sohail, Bilawal Bhatti
T20 Squad
Ahmed Shehzad, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Irfan, Awais Zia, Raza Hasan, Saad Nasim, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Shahid Afridi (capt), Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz
Out: Umar Amin, Sohaib Maqsood, Bilawal Bhatti
In: Umar Gul, Haris Sohail, Sarfraz Ahmed

It has been two months since Younis Khan lashed out at the national selectors for dropping him from the ODI side, two months in which he has ransacked 717 runs in five Tests. The selectors simply couldn’t ignore the weight of those runs, and have picked him in the ODI squad for the first two matches against New Zealand.Misbah-ul-Haq remains the ODI captain. Misbah, who had gone through a lean patch with the bat, had sat out of the third ODI against Australia, leaving Shahid Afridi to lead in his place. Following that, Misbah experienced a resurgence, both as captain and as batsman, in the Tests against Australia and New Zealand.Middle-order batsman Fawad Alam, who is Pakistan’s second-highest ODI run-getter in 2014 (at an average of 77), has been left out.Opening batsman Nasir Jamshed has also been recalled for the ODIs, while wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed, who was prolific in the recent Tests, has made the Twenty20 squad. Jamshed last played an ODI for Pakistan a year ago in South Africa but has earned a call-up with 314 runs at 62.80 for Pakistan A against UAE.”In the ODI squad, Younis Khan has been recalled for the ODI squad due to his sparkling form,” Pakistan chief selector and manager Moin Khan said. “Similarly, Sarfraz Ahmed is featuring in a T20I for the first time. Young and promising Haris Sohail is also part of both squads, while Sohaib Maqsood was not considered on fitness grounds. Among our pace bowlers, Wahab Riaz and Umar Gul are making comebacks from injury to make the pace attack more potent.”Younis Khan returns after prolific Test series against Australia and New Zealand•Associated PressMaqsood, 27, has been ruled out due to the wrist fracture he suffered during Pakistan A’s trip to the UAE last month.Fast bowlers Wahab and Gul have both recovered from their knee injuries and returned to both the T20 and the ODI squads. Haris Sohail, a left-hand batsman from Sialkot, has been in selectors’ plan since last year and has finally made the squad ahead of the 2015 World Cup.”I expect Team Pakistan to perform to its potential in both the T20Is and ODIs,” Moin said. “We have tried to induct all our fit players in contention for a slot and this is also pretty much the last opportunity for the players to perform and cement their places in the World Cup squad.”Both the squads are well-balanced, with a decent blend of in-form batsmen and good allrounders, with the bowling attack a potent mix of pace and spin combinations. Quite a few players have been included either after returning from injury or on the basis of current form.”Alam, 29, who had a lean run in his previous series against Australia, was axed as Younis and another prospect Haris Sohail had been included for middle-order spots. Since the ODIs against Australia, Alam represented National Bank of Pakistan in the domestic circuit to scoring a double hundred and three fifties but that wasn’t enough to sway the selectors. His ODI debut came back in 2009 and he has a batting average of 45.14, but he couldn’t hold down a permanent place. His latest recall in the ODI squad came into being after the span of five years in Asia Cup.Pakistan start their limited-overs campaign with two T20s in Dubai from December 4 followed by a series of five-ODIs starting from December 8.

Six players, including uncapped Shrideep Mangela and Under-19 allrounder Sarfaraz Khan, have been picked in Mumbai’s squad for the fourth-round match against Bengal, which starts from December 28 in Kolkata

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Dec-2014Six players, including uncapped Shrideep Mangela and Under-19 allrounder Sarfaraz Khan, have been picked in Mumbai’s squad for the fourth-round Ranji Trophy match against Bengal, which starts from December 28 in Kolkata. Apart from Mangela and Khan, the selectors have picked Siddhesh Lad, Akhil Herwadkar, wicketkeeper Sufiyan Shaikh and left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla.The Mumbai selectors, led by national panel chief, Sandeep Patil, dropped Hiken Shah, Sushant Marathe, Vishal Dabholkar, Bravish Shetty, Praful Waghela, and Kevin Almeida, who were a part of the squad for the game against Uttar Pradesh.Mangela, Shaikh and Sarfaraz are uncapped in the first-class format, while Herwadkar played his only first-class match in November 2011. Abdulla was part of the Mumbai side for the match against J&K, while Lad has not played a first-class match since December 2013.Mumbai, led by Suryakumar Yadav, have had a jittery start to the Ranji Trophy this season. They were beaten at home by Jammu & Kashmir and conceded the first-innings lead to Railways in their second game, before registering their first win of the season, against Uttar Pradesh, earlier in the week.Mumbai squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Nayar, Aditya Tare, Shrideep Mangela, Siddhesh Lad, Akhil Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer, Sufiyan Shaikh, Sarfaraz Khan, Iqbal Abdullah, Akshay Girap, Shardul Thakur, Wilkin Mota, Badre Alam, Kshemal Waingankar.

Despite the game ending in a draw, Shrikant Mundhe’s second first-class hundred ensured what was turning out to be a dull day’s play ended up being an entertainer for a sizable weekend crowd that had turned up at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadiu

The Report by Amol Karhadkar in Pune24-Jan-2015
ScorecardShrikant Mundhe’s second first-class ton featured 12 fours and five sixes•ESPNcricinfo LtdShrikant Mundhe’s big-hitting lit up the final day’s play of Maharashtra’s Group B tie against Delhi. Despite the game ending in a draw, Mundhe’s second first-class hundred ensured what was turning out to be a dull day’s play ended up being an entertainer for a sizable weekend crowd that had turned up at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium.Once overnight batsmen Chirag Khurana and Rahul Tripathi had batted out the opening hour, it was clear that the game was heading towards a draw, and having secured three points by virtue of a first-innings lead, Maharashtra kept themselves in the hunt for qualifying for the knockouts by jumping to the second position. Delhi, meanwhile, with 31 points, are all but assured of topping the group.When Mundhe took guard after Tripathi was stumped by Rahul Yadav off Rajat Bhatia, all Maharashtra required was for Mundhe and Chirag Khurana to bat out the opening session and not leave any room for Delhi to stage a comeback.Maharashtra’s two most consistent batsmen this season started playing freely. Even though Parvinder Awana breached Khurana’s defence – resulting in Khurana failing to convert his fourth successive fifty into a three-digit score – Mundhe had reached 46 at the break. He was well supported by Anupam Sanklecha.Immediately after lunch, Mundhe raised his fifty with a cracking cover drive off Vikas Tokas, though the right-arm pacer cleaned up Sanklecha in the same over. At that time, Mundhe was on 53 and in danger of running out of partners, as has happened several times over the last couple of seasons.That’s when Mundhe decided to cut loose. His last 10 scoring shots – spread over 34 balls – fetched him 48 runs. They included four towering sixes, including three back-to-back hits on the on-side off Manan Sharma and a lofted drive on the on-side off Tokas – as well as six fours. But more than the huge hits, the highlight of his innings turned out to be his lofted drive behind the bowler Awana that fetched him his second first-class hundred.When Mundhe was on 81, Manan trapped Domnic Joseph in front of the wickets, thus exposing the last man Samad Fallah. Knowing that he didn’t have much time on his, Mundhe raced to 97, thanks to twin sixes and a cover drive off Manan in his next over.Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir then reintroduced Awana, the pick of the team’s three seamers. Mundhe, though, was unfazed and first hit him over his head to raise his hundred, before celebrating the landmark with a spanking cover drive off the next ball. Awana eventually had the last laugh as he managed to force a mistimed pull off Mundhe in his next over which flew straight to Varun Sood at deep square leg.To the disappointment of the crowd, neither Gambhir nor Virender Sehwag took to the crease during the 23 overs Delhi batted before play ended. Khurana, who was later adjudged Man of the Match for his crucial fifty in both the innings, continued to entertain the crowd. He not only dismissed Unmukt Chand and Manan off successive balls in the penultimate over before tea, but also sprinted across the outfield to get the spectators involved in his team’s celebrations.

Nineties from M Vijay and Vijay Shankar steered Tamil Nadu to a solid 234 for 4 against Vidarbha in Jaipur

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-2015
ScorecardFile photo – M Vijay struck 13 fours and two sixes in his 96•Getty ImagesNineties from M Vijay and Vijay Shankar steered Tamil Nadu to a solid 234 for 4 against Vidarbha in Jaipur. The two came together at 50 for 3 and put on 140 in 50.1 overs before Vijay was out for 96. He had faced 203 balls and struck 13 fours and two sixes. Shankar and R Prasanna saw Tamil Nadu through to stumps, Shankar finishing unbeaten on 90 off 215 balls, with 11 fours and a six.Play began an hour late because of excess moisture in the pitch, after which the seamers quickly had Tamil Nadu in trouble. Left-armer Shrikant Wagh bowled Abhinav Mukund, before B Aparajith was run-out and Ravikumar Thakur dismissed Dinesh Karthik for 4. Thakur also broke the partnership between the Vijays to end the day with figures of 2 for 31 in 19 overs.

Ricky Ponting has said that his lack of success as a batsman in Twenty20 cricket, especially in the IPL, will have no bearing on his new role as head coach of Mumbai Indians

Amol Karhadkar05-Apr-20151:09

Ponting assured World Cup players will be ready for IPL

Ricky Ponting has said that his lack of success as a batsman in Twenty20 cricket, especially in the IPL, will have no bearing on his new role as head coach of Mumbai Indians.”That’s not hard at all. Although I was not a very good T20 player, the best thing is that I understand the game pretty well. I have been around the game for a long time. The fact is I was here in IPL 6, started the tournament, did not play really well, so that was when I actually went into a bit of coaching role when I stepped down from playing and that turned out to be pretty well,” Ponting said ahead of Mumbai Indians’ departure to Kolkata for Wednesday’s IPL 2015 opener against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders.Ponting’s 10 innings in the IPL – four with Knight Riders in 2008 and six with Mumbai Indians in 2013 -fetched him just 91 runs. His decision to drop himself after tallying 52 runs in 2013 turned out to be the turning point for Mumbai Indians. Ponting passed on the captaincy mantle to Rohit Sharma and the team went on to win their only IPL title.Since then, Ponting has been keeping himself at pace with the shortest version of the game. He spent some time with Mumbai Indians in an advisory capacity at the start of IPL 2014 before taking over as head coach ahead of the 2015 player auction.Malinga best suited to T20s – Ponting

Ricky Ponting has said that Lasith Malinga’s energies are best devoted to T20s, considering the stage of his career and increased field restrictions in ODIs.
“I believe where Malinga now is in his career, he is best suited to T20 cricket,” Ponting said. “Only has to bowl four overs. The skills he has for T20 are outstanding. He executes the yorkers, the slower balls, the bouncers, they are the skills you need to be an excellent T20 bowler. Talking about 50-over cricket, when you have four fielders outside the 30-yard circle, most bowlers are going for runs. We know he will have his skills in place when we get to the first game.”
The highest wicket-taker in the IPL joined Mumbai Indians on the back of a quiet World Cup campaign for Sri Lanka. Though he emerged as his side’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament, he did not appear to be at his best. But Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma was not worried about Malinga’s form and fitness.
“I don’t think it is a concern. He is an experienced campaigner and a dangerous bowler. He has proven it again and again over the years, especially for MI,” Rohit said. “For someone like Malinga, it is just a matter of one game.”

“For the last two years, I have been commentating on T20 back in Australia, so I have stayed really close to the game. I am understanding the way the game is played, understanding more and more the tactical side of the game.”When you take a step back from playing, you analyse the game a lot closer, considering a lot of tactical sides of the game. That’s the sort of stuff I have been working to bring in to Mumbai Indians this year. I have been responsible for the tactical side of things, the planning side of things and making sure the planning is as best as it can be and we have our players 100 per cent prepared for anything that might pop up during a game.”Rohit, who joined Mumbai Indians’ week-long camp at Wankhede Stadium after returning from the World Cup, was all praise for Ponting, and expected that the head coach’s presence will lead to Mumbai Indians repeating their 2013 heroics.”He has already showed it in 2013 when he led in the first six games and made the huge decision of dropping himself from the team to get the balance right,” Rohit said. “You see such things very rarely. It does not happen every day. After that, as he said, he took over the mentoring role, the coaching role and got the team together. It turned out to be a tremendous phase for us.”We went on to win the championship. We expect the same this year. We understand each other pretty well. His thinking of the game is really broad. He understands the game really well. He was the leader of the Australian side and he won them two World Cups. He knows how to win big tournaments. He brings a lot to the table. Am sure this year is also going to be another exciting year for us.”Since his appointment as head coach last December, Ponting has had a lot of time to ease into the role. Ahead of the auction in February, Ponting, along with Rohit, played a significant role in Mumbai Indians’ zeroing in on their domestic signings for the season. Mumbai Indians had conducted trials for 50-plus domestic players. Ponting went through footage of all of them before shortlisting half a dozen.For the last week, Ponting has been closely working with the domestic players during training. He has been discussing the nuances of batting with virtually every domestic batsman. It has been noticed that he would be the first to enter and the last to exit Wankhede through the last week. Ponting stressed he would continue to focus on Indian talent during the tournament.”I will be hands-on as a coach. I will work very closely, particularly with the younger guys. The internationals, they have played a lot, they don’t really need much of technical advice. They can go into the nets and do what they want to do and get themselves prepared. But with some of the younger guys, they have got a lot that I can pass on as far as the batting side of things go, how they think as well, how they get through a certain situation, how they think about playing a certain shot off a certain bowler.”I have been going to the nets early every day, I have been at training an hour and a half earlier than most of the boys turn up and I will continue right through the IPL.”

A five-wicket haul from the legspinner Sune Luus helped South Africa Women beat Pakistan Women by three wickets in the second ODI in Sharjah and level the series 1-1 with one match left

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Mar-2015
ScorecardFile photo – Dane van Niekerk guided South Africa home with an unbeaten 34•Getty ImagesA five-wicket haul from the legspinner Sune Luus helped South Africa Women beat Pakistan Women by three wickets in the second ODI in Sharjah and level the series 1-1 with one match left. Having chosen to bat, Pakistan were 23 for 2 before a 49-run partnership between Javeria Khan and Nain Abidi lifted them to a relatively solid position. But the batting fell away thereafter, with the last eight wickets falling for 61 runs. In addition to her five wickets, Luus also ran out Nida Dar. While the rest of her team collapsed around her, Pakistan captain Sana Mir battled on to finish unbeaten on 35.Left-arm spinner Anam Amin rocked South Africa’s chase, with the wickets of Nadine Moodley and Bernadine Bezuidenhout off the first two balls of the fifth over. They slipped further to 28 for 3 before Trisha Chetty and Lizelle Lee steadied the innings with a 47-run fourth-wicket stand. Amin dismissed both of them – and eventually finished with figures of 4 for 9 from her full quota of 10 overs – and the medium-pacer Kainat Imtiaz struck two late blows, but Dane van Niekerk guided South Africa home with eight balls remaining.